I remember where I was on this day 11 years ago. I was living in St. Petersburg, Florida, getting ready for work doing middays at 102.5 The Bone. (Classic Rock station at the time). I was just about done curling my hair, when my now adorable loving hubby, Ted said honey a plane just hit one of the twin towers. I thought I heard him wrong, so I ran in the living room just in time to see a second plane hit the other tower. Unfortunately later we'd find out about another plane crash that was intended for the Pentagon. Both of us where speechless. My stomach, dropped.. I thought I was watching a bad movie. This couldn't be real!!! But unfortunately, it was very PAINFULLY REAL! The aftermath of the crashes brought on many tears, lose of life and the question of WHY??? Which will never be answered in a way that any of us would accept, or at least me. How can some people have so much hatred for others? The one thing it did do for a period of time was unite us to stand together and not let this break us. The U.S. flag was flying high in neighborhoods across America. We were united and helping each other. I wish that part of it would stick on a daily basis. We can make some of that come back by Remembering today and do a Good Deed for another in it's honor. Maybe it will get us all doing 'Good Deeds' on a regular basis.
With this in mind, I wanted to share a poem that I have kept with me and shared for the past 10 years. Dear Abby printed this poem in her column on the 1 year anniversary of the devastation. It was sent to her by Larue and Herb Morrison from Salem, Ohio. Their granddaughter, Christine Morrison, who was in the 4th grade, watched the tragedy unfold on tv with the Twin Towers collapsing into heaps of dust, as most of us did. She went to her bedroom and wrote this poem. She shared it with her 4th grade class and her teacher thought it was so special she sent a copy to President Bush. Christine received a very special letter from Mrs. Bush thanking her for the poem.
I typed it exactly like my copy....
'The Dust Of September' by Christine Morrison, Grade 4
The dust of September
The dust, the smoke, the clouds
from the dust of September.
The sadness, the sorrow, the darkness
from the dust of September.
The pretty sites are gone, the love, the death
from the dust of September.
The families, the lives taken away
by the dust of September.
Our country is sad, but our country still stands
in the dust of September.
Our flag still waves
through the dust of September.
We will never break, we will stand together
through the dust of September.
People hurt, hearts broken, but we survive
in the dust of September.
